Chris Chiarella

The Pirate Captain (voiced by a wonderfully swaggering Hugh Grant) leads his merry men across the high seas, searching for gold, adventure…and ham? He’s never quite what we expect a career swashbuckler to be, and when the Captain sets his sights on the Pirate of the Year Award, we soon see that this criminal rogue is actually just a flawed softie with a chance at redemption. The underlying plot is surprisingly similar to the recent Despicable Me, but what sets The Pirates! Band of Misfits apart is a series of wacky twists involving a dateless, conniving scientist named Charles Darwin and a downright loopy Queen Victoria. The movie also overflows with subtle sight gags, little placards and such in the shadows just behind a character. My kids laughed hysterically along with me, and they didn’t even catch half the jokes, so this disc definitely merits a purchase for the sake of repeat viewings.

A classy animated menagerie, a harsh, unexpected police drama and a 3D dancefest shuffle their way onto Blu-ray.

In honor of a certain scary holiday, we present an assortment of new Blu's intended to quicken your pulse in more ways than one.

The Criterion Collection has been reissuing some real gems lately, from a hard-to-find recent thriller to a French classic to a delicious black comedy.